


a mosaic of shuttering lights

by dragonlights



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-01
Updated: 2014-09-01
Packaged: 2018-02-15 17:19:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2237154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragonlights/pseuds/dragonlights
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>where annie cresta. the roommate, barista, journalist, aspiring art curator catches the eye of finnick odair. the heartbreaker, veteran, shutterbug, future private investigator.<br/>modern day, college au. (drabble-like chapters)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. encounters

**Author's Note:**

> i figured it would be more organized and efficient, if i posted this fic somewhere other than tumblr. so here i am! and it's kind of the halfway mark before this story ends, so yeah.

Meeting her was an accident.

 

The first time he’s laid eyes on her had occurred early in the morning some time in September, when he went and got his morning drink from the coffeehouse near the university. She mixed drinks, wrote down orders and cashed in money all with ease and delicacy. Her dark long hair swayed to the side as she beamed at his order for an extra sweet cappuccino, giggling at the cliché words tumbling out of her lips. “Coming right up!”

 

It may have been too early in the morning for him to actually notice her. After all, he was sleep addled trying to get his coffee, which in turn was caffeinated to wash away the sleepiness during the day. Besides, in his defense, she probably did not remember him either due to the numerous customers she’s dealt with daily or maybe due to the darkness of the sky of the early morning, for most people weren’t early risers or morning people. Especially due to the days that followed, every time he’d appear at the shop, she wasn’t there to serve him but her melodious humming could be heard from the back near the register.

 

It was definitely a mistake when he first officially met her, on his part of course many months later. There was an assignment in his psych class where the professor had broken the class up into pairs. His new partner had been one Johanna Mason, who had been absent for almost the entire week, ever since the assignment was assigned. So, Finnick figured he should visit the girl’s dorm, in order to save his grade and perhaps hers too. 

 

Finding the Mason girl’s dorm number took time. She liked her privacy, and so there were barely any records within the school on her. But after bribing fellow IT student Beetee Latier, he found out that she lived on the East Wing of the campus in room 406.

 

Approaching towards the hall, he could see a fair haired student jingling her keys coming in from the opposite direction as he. Her arms carried a sundry of bags and groceries when she stopped directly in front of where he proposed room 406 would be. He decided now was his chance, and so he appeared right behind her. 

 

Taking a quick sweep of his surroundings and making sure that he was in fact standing right in front of room 406, Finnick Odair stepped a bit closer behind the girl. Obviously the girl was too preoccupied with unlocking the door to notice him. He gently tapped her on the shoulder and asked — maybe a bit too loudly and abruptly —, “Johanna Mason? We have a psych pro—”

 

A whirlwind of hair smacked his face as the student yelped in alarm. She was clearly startled with wide eyes when her grocery bags all dropped to the floor. She internally winced when she heard the eggs cracking and leaking all over his shoes. 

 

"I’m so sorry!" She started, fumbling to pick up the groceries. 

 

"No, no, no. The fault is all mine, Johanna. I’m sorry for startling you!"

 

"But your shoes!" She protested. Her eyebrows furrowed in concern while she chewed on her lip to figure out what to do. Then she replayed the conversation in her mind and her eyes darkened a bit as she backtracked, "Hold on…"

 

Finnick raised an eyebrow at her.

 

"Did–did you just call me Johanna?" Her hazy green eyes shot up to meet his.

 

"Uh, yeah.."

 

A small grin grew on her face. “I don—Johanna Mason, right?”

 

He nodded his head to confirm, which she in turn continued. “Yeah. I’m sorry. I’m not Johanna.”

 

"Oh…" He grew disappointed. "I’m sorry…Uhm, this is awkward," he muttered, scratching the back of his neck.

 

The girl started swinging her keys around with her finger, pitying him a little all the while. “No, no, not really! Well, I mean yeah, maybe it is a little bit, but you needed her for something? Because I’m Annie Cresta, her roommate.”

 

"Yeah, I’m Finnick Odair," Finnick introduced himself, extending his arm to her. She merely glanced at it, offering him an apologetic smile due to her inability to shake his hand. Her hands were still full of groceries. He returned hers with a sheepish smile.

 

She cleared her throat then, “Uhm maybe you should come inside…and let me help you clean up the mess on the aisle down there?”

 

Finnick had to bite his tongue to hold in an innuendo. He knew it would’ve worsened the atmosphere between them, so he looked down at his shoes and beamed, “I’d like that very much, thank you.” 

 

Annie nodded and tried to position her keys in her hand properly to which Finnick realized how rude he was being. “Let me help you with those,” he quickly moved to grab some of the groceries from her arms, which Annie protested to, but he ignored her insistence.

 

After unlocking the door, Annie switched on the lights and put some of the groceries on the table. Finnick followed suit. He sat in a chair, pulling out his phone, while Annie hastily took items out of the bags and put them in their rightful places. When she got to the soggy bag of broken eggs, she nearly groaned out loud, but she tried to refrain herself due to her guest.

 

As if sensing her displeasure, Finnick looked up at her with an apology in his eyes. “Sorry.”

 

She decided to deal with the mess later, “It’s okay. No big deal. We should tend to your shoes. You probably have things to do after.”

 

Annie scattered around the kitchen and returned with soap, paper towels soaked with water and a roll of dry paper towels. She laid them all out on the table. “You should probably remove your shoes, so it’s easier to clean and well, I don’t want to seem like your personal shoeshiner.”

 

"Why not?" he joked, feigning surprise, "I am a very generous tipper." He winked.

 

She flushed, a pretty blush crawling over her cheeks as she helped him get out of his shoes. Both of them started wiping off the egg yolk, whites, and whatever liquid still dripped from the shoes. By the time they finished cleaning the first shoe, they started on the other shoe, and Annie suddenly remembered why Finnick was there in the first place. “Oh! I forgot to tell you, Johanna has been, uh, out of town.”

 

"Oh, I see…" Finnick frowned, "Well it’s really important that she returns because I need her."

 

Annie raised a brow at that but decided not to pester. She continued to wash off the eggs.

 

A loud bustling filled the room when the pair were nearly done cleaning up the shoes. 

 

"Hey Annie, I’m back! You left the door open again, even though I  _deliberately_  told you that we could get robbed that way! And also 101, there’s a situation in front of the door, just fyi—” The girl, who Finnick assumed to be Johanna, stopped midway once she approached the kitchen staring at the duo. She was speechless, ditching her suitcase behind her as her eyebrows hiked up in extreme interest. “Annie,” she whispered, “Who’s your new friend?”

 

Annie blushed furiously. 

 

Finnick smirked at the way Annie’s friend openly checked him out. Annie’s blush calmed down, and she proceeded to answer with a smile, “Jo, this is Finnick Odair?” she turned to look at him to make sure she was right before continuing, “And Finnick this is my roommate, Johanna Mason.” 

 

Annie looked over to Johanna and muttered, “He’s actually here for you.”

 

"For me?" Johanna questioned, curiously. 

 

"Yeah, I see you’ve returned from your little trip. Well, while you were gone, in psychology we were assigned a project where you and I are partners. We have to act out a scene of someone suffering from a mental disorder," Finnick supplied. He bent over and started to put on his shoes again.

 

"Okay," Johanna started, "Easy. I’ll start on it with you tomorrow." Her attention then shifted to the soggy bag on the table. "What’s this?"

 

"Broken eggs," Annie replied. 

 

"Broken—What the fuck? How did it break?" 

 

"That’s my fault, I’m sorry…" he pitched in.

 

Johanna looked pissed right about then, turning straight towards Finnick. “Well, then you better buy us a–fucking–nother one, Odair! Great, now I’m not going to have any breakfast to eat tomorrow! Ugh!” She threw her hands up in the air with her suitcase in tow, and stalked out of the room leaving behind a perplexed Finnick and an embarrassed Annie.

 

And that’s how Finnick Odair became friends with Johanna Mason, after buying her and her roommate a box of eggs.

 


	2. quick study

He hasn’t seen much of Annie Cresta after that ordeal (but he does see her again by chance, eventually). He’s seen a hell of a lot more of Johanna Mason, who was boisterous and rebellious in nature. Obviously since she shared about three classes with him, they saw each other all the time; ultimately making them study buddies (—not exactly since Johanna did not care to study—) and best friends.

 

His best friend had missed half the day so far and since no one was occupying the seat next to him, other girls took the opportunity to jump at him. Needless to say, Finnick wasn’t uncomfortable by the ogling from the cheerleader beside him, but he grew a bit irritated when her attempts started to get too frenzied. She was distracting him from the professor’s lesson about a satirical piece and its exaggerated bits or something of the like. The girl’s arm moved to brush his arm, not so smoothly, disrupting his scratchy scribbles of now ruined notes. Once class was over, he was relieved and raced out of the room, leaving behind his blank notes and black pen.

 

In psychology, a similar incident had occurred, except this time they were learning about the different types of love one can have. The girls near him sent him coquettish looks, while the one who sat beside him suddenly intertwined her fingers with his left hand underneath the desk when the teacher explained what consummate love was. Finnick tried to wriggle his fingers away without offending the girl, but she held on to them even tighter. He could feel his fingers turning purple. He really couldn’t wait for class to be over.

 

It wasn’t until speech class that Johanna came bustling through. Their instructor glared at her for the disturbance before the stout man turned back to the board and continued writing the assignment. Everyone else was nearly seated by the time his best friend reached him.

 

She noted the derision in his posture, but she turned to Finnick with a goofy grin anyway. “Annie just turned twenty-one last night, and man, am I hungover.”

 

Finnick grinned back at her as he grew content with her remark. He was about to ask about Annie and everything when he was suddenly ambushed by messages from his phone. He deliberately ignored every ping that sounded, but Johanna was annoyed. 

 

"God, who the hell is trying to bang you at this hour?" she hissed, rubbing her temple.

 

"Nearly the whole student body," Finnick muttered, grimacing at the day’s earlier events. More pings sounded from his cellphone in agreement. "Fuck. Odair, if you do not turn off that phone, I will fucking destroy it."

 

Finnick snatched his phone off the table and turned it off immediately. He peaked a glance at Johanna afterwards, and her mood changed instantly. She was now in better mood, jotting down whatever was written on the board, before a thought sprung into her head. “Hey, this just occurred to me, how old are you?”

 

"Twenty-three," he answered simply.

 

An amused, pleasantly shocked expression bore on her face. “Wait,” Johanna said, processing his answer, which was shortly followed by a realization, “Oh, that’s right! You served in the navy for a bit.”

 

Finnick nodded with pride etched on his face.

 

"And I’m turning twenty-one in like three months. God, I’m young and you’re freaking old," she continued excitedly. She scrunched up her nose when emphasizing his age, but she huffed up in pride, nevertheless, at finding a flaw in Finnick’s physique.

 

"At least I’m old with a hot body," he shot back with a smirk and a wink.

 

Johanna’s shoulder sagged a bit in concession. She gave him a shrug, expressing indifference. “True that.” 

 

He let out a chuckle and returned to his notes. The professor talked for the rest of the lecture, and the two best friends cracked jokes and discussed things with one another until class was over. As students were walking out the door, the professor hollered about some upcoming test in a few days.

 

"Hey, how about we study at my place today?" Johanna suggested as they walked down the hall. "Annie’s working a double shift for the night."

 

"Where does she work?"

 

"She works at that one coffeehouse near the university," she indicates with her fingers, directing towards the area, "But usually only in the mornings before class starts." Johanna quickly glances up at him, awaiting his reply, and her eyes wander around afterwards. Her expression darkens a bit once she spots Finnick’s friends. 

 

Finnick follows his best friend’s gaze to see a shock of blonde hair belonging to one very intimidating blonde bright eyed beauty, also known as Cashmere, his on and off—strictly no strings attached—paramour. The girl sashays towards him, flocked by his swimmer friends, who greets Finnick loudly. 

 

Johanna whirls around and glares at him, sporting an impatient expression. He knows she hates being surrounded by his friends, especially since she’s convinced that they worship him and she definitely doesn’t like Cashmere at all. 

 

"Alright, I’ll be there."

 

"Good. See you later, then." Johanna starts to move, shoving others out of her way. She nudges past a lot of people on her way out and winks at one of his swimmer friends. Finnick nearly rolls his eyes at the sight but he’s pulled down into a kiss by Cashmere.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s nearly 6:30 when he arrives at the girl’s dorm. He knocks on the door a couple times before he hears Johanna angrily yell at whoever’s on the other side “to calm the fuck down,” and that “she’s coming, so fuck off.” When she finally opens the door, she lets him in with a sardonic smile. They immediately lay on the couch and furiously slam the books on the table, vigorously flipping through pages to start studying. 

 

Finnick tries to soak in the information, while Johanna frequently gets up for snack breaks. He’s pretty sure she hasn’t read any word of the book yet, which irks him a bit. The creak of the door opening catches his attention, and he scoots over to the left to sneak a peek.

 

The front door swings open and a soft voice graces the room. “Hey, Johanna? You’re still here?” 

 

"Annie! I thought you were taking on an extra shift?" Johanna hastily closes the fridge and strides toward Annie. 

 

"Yeah, I did but they’re having some sort of inspection going on tonight, so I don’t have to work." She sets down the keys on the counter and picks up the bowl of ice cream Johanna just made for herself. 

 

Both of them walk into the living room and Finnick tries to study, while Annie is scooping up some icecream from the bowl with a scowling Johanna trailing behind her. Annie nearly settles down on the couch beside Finnick when she suddenly notices his presence, mid-bite. She shoves the icecream in her mouth quickly and swallows it down. 

 

"You didn’t tell me we had a guest in the house," Annie half whispers, half rebukes.

 

Johanna sits on the armchair next to the couch. Her scowl only deepens. “You ate my icecream before I could even say anything!” 

 

"I need it, I just came home from work." She counters. She plops down on the couch beside Finnick, offering him a small smile. "Hey."

 

"Hi," he replies quietly. "Johanna and I were just studying…"

 

She nods in acknowledgement. Taking another bite from the bowl, she gestures around the table of books with her spoon, “Oh yeah, I can see.” She directs the conversation to Johanna and her eyebrows furrow together when she continues, “But how do you expect to study when you have that protest—” Annie’s face scrunches up as she tries to recall, “the save the ocean campaign—going on tonight?”

 

Johanna’s eyes bug out, “That’s tonight?!? No, you’re joking! Holy shit!!!” She rushes out the room and returns with her phone accompanied by a thousand chimes. “I have to go! I totally forgot. Sorry Finnick, I guess you’re going to have to hang with Annie for the night? She’s really smart though, don’t worry…” 

 

Johanna continues babbling miles for a minute as she disappears into her room to change and get ready. Annie’s eyes, in turn, turn wide and panicked after digesting both the icecream and Johanna’s words. “Wait what? You’re leaving me alone with your Irish friend?”

 

"It’s Finnick Odair, Annie. Don’t freak out, it’s not like you guys haven’t met before." Johanna reassures her roommate. She’s now changed into a white and blue t-shirt and a pair of denim washed jeans, picking up two large signs and waving it at them. "Don’t hurt each other while I’m gone, and don’t miss me too much either." Johanna jokes and salutes the pair before she walks out the door.

 

Finnick turns to look at Annie, who directs her gaze towards him. He finds himself speaking, trying to diffuse the silence. “I heard it was your birthday, yesterday,” he started as Annie nodded, continuing to finish her icecream. “So, happy belated birthday to ye’, lassie!”

 

Laughing and nearly spitting out her icecream, Annie shook her head at his horrible impersonation of an Irish accent. Her face was flushed by her embarrassment of defining him by race. “Oh my god, you’re horrible! And thanks and sorry for calling you Irish…”

 

"Nah, it’s okay. I’m not remotely Irish but I’m not ashamed of my roots." Finnick exclaimed. 

 

Annie nodded, thoughtfully. “That’s good, I hear Ireland has the best whiskey or whatever? I don’t know, I’m not a big drinker but I have an appreciation for good food. Also, what’re you studying?”

 

Finnick gestures to the English book. Annie casts her long dark hair to the side and helps him study. She quizzes him on the different types of irony and satire. He sits there thinking and struggling before he can come up with decent examples for each type. Annie also helps him with chemistry and European history, which he’s having a hard time remembering certain names for. 

 

He learns that Annie excels at almost everything she does. She’s taken most of her classes in high school, such as Psychology, European History, and Calculus AB and BC. And the fact that she speaks fluent French and Italian makes her much more interesting. She tells him that she’s a mix of French, Danish, Italian and Spanish descent, so it’s only natural for her to be a francophone and an italophone since her parents mostly spoke that at home. She’s also good with Latin, which proves to be useful in learning different languages. And she used to swim and dance during her high school years, but she’s currently focusing more on journalism now for her major in art.

 

He’s literally enthralled by the girl sitting before him, and he just wants to know more about the brilliant Annie Cresta. However, time is not in his favor, when he checks the time. It was nearly two in the morning, and he can feel himself drifting off. “I still haven’t got to study for psych,” he mutters. “I was supposed to do it with Johanna.”

 

Annie stretches out her arms and goes for a yawn. “She probably won’t be back ‘til five. Those protests get pretty crazy.” She pauses for a moment, “Considering no one gets arrested.”

 

A small smile forms on Finnick’s face and he lets out a loud yawn. “Alright, I should probably get back to my place.” He starts to sift through his stuff, packing them all up in his bag. 

 

"Would you like some coffee?" she asks. 

 

Before he could even answer, Annie’s already up on her feet in the kitchen. A faint hum could be heard along with the swirling scent of coffee. She returns with a small to go cup in her hand, offering it to him. “I wasn’t sure what you liked, but this was pretty much all I had and I added in lots of sugar because I figured what’s the harm with an extra sense of sweetness, right?” 

 

Taking the cup in his hand, he beamed at her. “Thanks.”  He brought the cup up to his nose and breathed in the wondrous smell. “I don’t think there’s such thing as ‘too much sugar.’” 

 

Annie shrugged, “Johanna would think otherwise. She likes her coffee black.” 

 

Finnick laughed and gave Annie a quick hug. He could feel her stiffen a bit beneath him, but smile nonetheless. “Thanks again,” he exclaims, brimming with gratitude, “And happy belated birthday, lassie!” 

 

She laughs at his horrible accent, while he walks out the door. “Bye! Good luck on your tests, Finnick!” 

 

"Thanks," he says once more, and once he hears the doors close behind him, he takes a sip of the coffee.

 

Everyday after that he visits the coffeehouse every morning before school to have an extra sweet cappuccino. 


	3. cups of joe

The morning is always tiresome yet there’s something sweet about the soft silence and silent whispers that fill her ears. The sound compliments the faint colors growing in the sky, which aren’t too bright or outshined by the sun. However, it’s nothing compared to the skies of the beach, Annie thinks, longing to be back in her home on the beachfront.

 

She crosses off another day on her agenda calendar. Another day closer to summer break.

 

"Annie?"

 

Annie looks up at Gale, who just returned from writing the day’s special on the chalkboard menu outside. He rubs his hands together to dust off the chalk from his fingers before he gestures to the new waitress, Delly.

 

Delly is full of sweet smiles and sunshiny blonde hair. She fumbles a bit, so she looks down at the pad and tries her best to read from her scribbles. “Table 7 wants a frappé, Table 5 wants one mocha latte and one black coffee, and Booth 3 wants a—”

 

"Extra sweet cappuccino," Annie’s best friend, Cressida, cuts in. After Delly confirms and leaves, Cressida shoots a predatory grin at Annie but Annie turns away to start on the orders when Cressida winks.

 

As Annie turns on the machine for the frappé, she hears her best friend say, “He’s been here for nearly four weeks straight! I swear Annie, he’s here for you.”

 

Gale only laughs, “Yeah, he’s automatically here for Annie when he doesn’t bat a single eyelash at you.”

 

Cressida looks affronted, “Excuse me? He did bat an eyelash at me. He flirted with me, Hawthorne, but that’s the farthest it went.”

 

Annie ignores the quarrel spewing between her coworkers and raises a brow, “Are you sure? What if he’s here for the coffee?”

 

Cressida only laughs. “With a camera? A T5i camera?” She bellows, astounded. Gale only rolls his eyes and leaves the area before Cressida could go into a full, passionate rant about cameras. She’s majoring in film and shared a photography class with Annie the previous year.

 

"Ann, honey, he’s been bringing a camera with him for the past few weeks, and I’m sure there’s nothing visually appealing about the coffee cup he’s seen every day for the past month." The dirty blonde pauses for a moment, throwing a quick glance at Annie’s task and adds, "Honestly, your coffee may be delicious, but it’s not worth a picture taken from a T5i."

 

Annie appears bemused and finds herself slow to reply. She adds a straw to the frappé and shoves it into Cressida’s hands. “Who’s the guy?”

 

The dirty blonde haired girl is about to respond when their superior, Enorbia enters. Their manager, Enobaria emitted a very powerful presence, that made even the toughest and boldest people Annie ever knew, Cressida and Johanna Mason, squirm. Her pointed teeth could be seen when she spoke. “Girls, it’s almost rush hour, not social hour, so quit yapping or be fired!”

 

Cressida quickly rushes towards the cashier counter, and Annie starts spluttering out a protest. “I—I was working though—”

 

Enorbia saunters out of the room to the back. Annie merely stills her thoughts and returns to making coffee. Pouring a cup filled with hot black coffee, another filled with sugary mocha and some cream, and the last containing cappuccino with extra sugar, she moves toward the cash register and laid the drinks out on the counter beside Cressida.

 

Gale walks over and picks up the drinks, while Cressida grins wildly. She’s been waiting forever for this day to come. “Alright, do you see the guy in Booth 3?”

 

Annie looks up and sees a bronze haired man staring out the window with a T5i Canon camera in his hands (like Cressida had said). She waits for Gale to drop off the man’s order to see his face, properly. Once the drink is dropped off, and the man thanks Gale, Annie sees his face clearly and recognizes his voice.

 

"That’s Finnick Odair," Annie murmurs. "Why didn’t you tell me, it was him?" She raises a confused brow at her friend.

 

Cressida shrugs with increased fascination, “That’s Finnick Odair? I didn’t know! I only go to school once a week, woman!”

 

Annie offers a small smile in apology. She should’ve known. Cressida only has one class at the university since she’s a year older than Annie, and she has an internship in film making, which she devotes her time to. Cressida has made a few documentaries and has recently been going with her camera crew to film a small independent movie.

 

Her attention is swept elsewhere when a customer approaches the counter and orders a latte. “Coming right up,” Annie exclaims, heading towards the coffee makers. She hears her best friend recite the price, and when she returns with the coffee, she doesn’t see Finnick in the store anymore.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next morning, after trying to wake up Johanna for one of her activist meetings, Annie rushes to the coffeehouse.

 

Delly is already inside, yawning while she wipes the tables. Annie can’t help but yawn herself. She was never really a morning person, she was more of a night owl.

 

She makes a mental note to herself that they’re short on staff. Gale is out for the morning because he’s taking his childhood friend to her graduation ceremony recital, and Cressida is absent due to an early shooting for her movie. It’s going to be a busy morning, Annie thinks. Especially since Delly’s going to leave in an hour to go to high school.

 

She grabs her apron from the rack on the back and wraps it around her waist. Annie puts her hair up in a quick, simple braid, before starting the coffee machines. Delly yells out the orders to Annie, who completes each order in one go. She brings all the cups to the counter and looks at the orders Delly has taken.

 

"Alright, number 3? Your milk latte is ready!" Annie exclaims. She frowns when no one responds. She squints again at the note and tries to pronounce the name. "Rue!"

 

A small person, who Annie assumes to be Rue, comes to take her coffee. “Thank you,” she murmurs with a small adorable smile, taking a sip of her coffee when she walks out the shop.

 

 

Annie proceeds to the next few orders while Delly collects a couple more. “14! Your cappuccino is ready.” She looks around distractedly until a familiar bronze haired man appears.

 

Her brow furrows a bit when she tries to associate the name scribbled on the cup with the man standing before her. She’s thoroughly amused and she hands the cup to him with an inquiry on her lips. “Here you go, Mr. Rochester?”

 

A prideful grin suddenly morphs on his face. His grin grows larger when he looks at her, reminding Annie of a clever fox, who finds himself sly and cunning. He briefly looks away and straightens the string of the camera around his neck. Then he grabs the cup from her hands, their fingers brushing, and if Cressida were here, Annie knows that Cressida would comment on how he totally lingered and dragged out that moment between them. But since Cressida is not here, Annie acts as if nothing happened.

 

"Thanks."

 

She nods and watches Finnick leave when she proceeds to the next order.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He returns the next day, and the next day and the day after that and the day after that. She greets him when she walks in the door. He has started to wait for her outside the coffee shop in the mornings, holding out the door for her, as if he just happened to be walking in as well. Annie doesn’t notice at first nor has she questioned it until Cressida brought it up one day.

 

Annie doesn’t say much and decides to return the gratitude by making his extra sweet coffee with little foam designs on it. She does this for all her friends who happen to frequent the little coffee shop, and so she guess she considers her roommate’s best friend a friend.

 

Sometimes she’d make a leaf or a flower or some sort of swirl. She doesn’t ever bother with hearts because she doesn’t like how they turn out. Other days when she’s feeling extremely artistic, she would make a whole scene, creating an image with planets in space, or of fishes in the sea, or a sailboat in the sun. During those days she’d find herself hoping he would take a picture of her effort, and on most days he does, allowing her to feel a swell of pride flood through her. She knows he smiles when she would draw kittens, puppies, or bunnies on his coffee, and he’d look over at her in sheer delight.  

 

“I swear, Cresta, if he doesn’t ask you out soon, I will ask on his behalf.” Gale admits, jokingly.

 

Her face is a mix of horror and flattery as all her friends try to get her to notice the obvious fondness Finnick Odair has for her. She wouldn’t call it a crush because they barely know each other. She’d think attraction or fondness would be the correct term for whatever he’s feeling. However, she’d always deny it because she’s not into Finnick and she’s trying to make her long distance relationship work out.

 

She tells Johanna all about this, and Johanna only regards her skeptically with, “Is that so? Hm, I haven’t noticed.”

 

“Doesn’t he have a girlfriend?” Annie retorts and her roommate laughs too loudly.

 

“I hate Cashmere,” her roommate bites out. “He’d know better than to actually date her.”

 

And Annie finds herself more confused. “Cashmere? Isn’t that like a type of sweater?”

 

Johanna smiles bitterly, “Yeah.”

 

The conversation ends at that, and the pair turn on the TV and watch Pucca through one of Annie’s playlists for the afternoon. Johanna opens a new bag of chips and the two eat and laugh and watch, forgetting about anything related to their sad college life. Their focus is solely on a little red girl with two large buns in her hair flying into the air and kicking some ninja butt. “God, I love how aggressive Pucca is,” Johanna comments and Annie agrees.

 

She gets a text from her boyfriend, Blight, in the middle of their little marathon. He sends her an image of him in a tux for his cousin’s wedding. There’s a follow up message saying, ‘Wish you were here.’

 

She smiles and shows it to Johanna, who snorts. After all, Blight was the one who introduced Annie to Johanna after they realized they were going to different universities. She has no idea where Blight gets all his friends from because Johanna and him are nothing alike, but she has never asked.

 

Annie texts him back, telling him how handsome he looks and then their conversation dies there. She can’t figure out how to make their relationship work, and she kind of wants to break up, but she doesn’t know how to.

 

"Annie," Johanna starts, directing her attention towards the kitchen. "Fix it." The sink in the kitchen keeps gurgling up shit. The pipes are all messed up as water keeps backing up the sink. It’s the third time she had to stop it this week, and she wants to give up.

 

"Let’s just hire a plumber," Annie begs for the millionth time. Johanna jerks her head up away from the TV and refuses. "No way, I don’t need a man to do something a woman can do just as well."

 

"Who knows? Maybe a woman plumber might show up," she reasons. But Johanna does not buy the bait, and Annie decides she needs to do something.

 

She just has to decide which problem she should fix first.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Her solution comes in the form of Finnick Odair.

 

Cressida is out again, and Gale is running late. So when he comes up to make an order, an idea springs up in her head. “Hey,” Annie greets him. “Cappuccino, right?”

 

He nods with a smile, about to remind her to add extra sugar, when she beats him to the punch. It’s such a peculiar request with the amount of sugar he likes to take, that she finds it impossible to forget.

 

"You’re going to get diabetes one day."

 

He looks up at her in surprise. “What are you supposed to be? My nurse?” he asks, grinning. Clearly, he’s enjoying the conversation. She’s sure he’s just a people person and lives just to talk to others.

 

She signals for him to move aside a bit, so she can tend to other customers. She loves socializing as well, but she’s much more shy in her attempts.

 

When she spots Gale putting on his apron and moving towards her, she trades spots with him. She walks towards the coffee maker to brew coffee and notes Finnick following her to that side.

 

"Do I look like a nurse?" She asks with her back facing him.

 

"You could be one," he muses, and when she turns to face him to hand over his coffee, there’s this calculating look in his eyes.

 

"Well, I’m not," she explains. "My passion is in art, and that’s what I want to do." She places his coffee cup on the counter and then calls the name of the other customers who have ordered and puts those cups on the counter as well.

 

He picks up his to-go cup and looks like he wants to talk more, but he checks the time on his phone and frowns.

 

"Hey, you’re not busy today, are you?" she inquires before he can leave. He shakes his head, prompting her to continue. "Are you willing to help a girl out and do her a favor?"

 

She notes the way he perks up with curiosity. “It depends on the type of girl,” he quips, raising his eyebrows suggestively.

 

Annie stares dumbfounded. Is he actually flirting with her? She notices the way he fidgets a bit, and then she remembers he needs to get to class soon so she continues. “Don’t tell Johanna because she’ll kill me if she finds out I did this, but…”

 

He arches a brow at her, and she nearly laughs but refrains from doing so. “We have a broken sink and Johanna refuses to get someone to fix it. So I was wondering if you could help out? I mean if you’re good at plumbing ‘cos not everyone is. And it’s perfect ‘cos Johanna has some club meeting she’s attending to this afternoon.”

 

Finnick nods then, “Of course. I love helping damsels in distress and anything to piss Jo off.”

 

Annie was ready to argue that she wasn’t a damsel nor was she actually in distress, and the thought of being compared to such made her feel like a child. Yet she could tell he needed to go, and she didn’t want to make him late. “Great, see you later then. I hope you like pho, ‘cos that’s what I’m ordering for dinner tonight!”

 

Finnick beamed before he walked out with coffee in hand. “I’d love that.”

 


End file.
